A multi-million pound national skills academy for food and drink manufacturing could be up and running by September 2006, a skills council has announced.

Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, is putting the finishing touches to an employer-backed bid for government funding to set up the academy.

The proposed academy would be the first national centre of learning dedicated to consumables.

Pitching against other sectors for government funds, Improve is hoping to put food and drink manufacturing at the forefront of a national drive to boost skills impacting on the UK’s economy.

Improve’s chief executive, Jack Matthews, said: “In our first year of operation as a sector skills council we have been working very hard to determine the right model for the academy, and we have been canvassing for support among employers.

“We believe we now have the right blueprint for a highly successful academy, which will be a beacon for excellence, pulling together and building upon the very best of resources and knowledge available to the sector.

According to Matthews the company’s bid is supported by a host of employers and trade associations,

And several leading grocery producers and commercial training companies have already shown an interest in sponsoring the academy, he claimed. He said: “The plan will bring together the best of the existing learning providers for food and drink manufacturing around the country, which could become centres of excellence within the academy. They will have to meet exacting standards as leaders in their field, and must be prepared to welcome increased employer involvement in return for access to a greater market for skills.”

Improve has said it would welcome training centres of all forms into the academy, to form a network around a central hub governed ultimately by manufacturing employers.

The role of the network would be to drive research and innovation in skills development, and ensure the academy achieved its aim of delivering skills to meet the needs of employers.

“A major feature of the central hub will be a sophisticated virtual academy, which will provide a communications and information centre as well as offering opportunities for on-line learning, distance learning, and an on-line resource centre for learning aids,” Matthews added.

Improve’s bid will require an initial government input of up to £5 million to establish the hub, which is to be supplemented by employer contributions and sponsorship.

Matthews said employers would also be encouraged to support the academy through participation in its governance, co-operation with research, funding student places, and purchasing the academy’s training packages.

The government has set September 9 as a deadline for bids, and a decision from ministers is expected by October 31.

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